


Chronic Pain

by Golden_Asp



Series: Tales of the IronAgent Kind [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Chronic Pain, Established Relationship, I'm writing what I want to see with this pairing, M/M, Not much to this, Phil takes care of Tony, and that's domestic soft bois, soft bois
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21984235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Asp/pseuds/Golden_Asp
Summary: Tony took a hit during the last battle and the pain from the reactor flares up.  Phil takes care of him.
Relationships: Phil Coulson/Tony Stark
Series: Tales of the IronAgent Kind [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586353
Comments: 9
Kudos: 320
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Chronic Pain

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pushing to write the last 7k words I need in the next 5 days to hit the 300k mark for the year of 2019, so there may be a multitude of short stuff coming your way. I wrote this in like twenty minutes. Phil/Tony (Philony? IronAgent? Whatever) is where my brain is at right now so that's what you get!
> 
> not beta-ed

Tony’s hand shakes as he reaches for the bottle. His breathing is shallow and rapid, far too fast and not doing him any damn good. Black edges the corners of his vision and he just wants it all to end.

His fingers brush the bottle and it tips away from him, smashing onto the floor. Tony lets out a cry, doubling over. His eyesight whites out as pain lances through him and he comes to sometime later, his hand in the puddle of whiskey and a glass shard embedded in his palm.

He sits up slowly, trying to regulate his breathing. It isn’t working.

“Sir? Sir?” JARVIS’ voice is worried. Tony should reply, he knows that, but everything _hurts_.

“I’m calling Agent Coulson,” JARVIS says. Tony wants to tell him to belay that, but he can’t. He can’t open his mouth. If he does he won’t stop screaming. 

He thinks he blacks out again. When he comes to, there’s a gentle hand in his hair.

“Tony, you with me?” Phil Coulson asks, his voice soft. The lights are dim and the sounds are muted.

Tony grunts, lifting his head slightly.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Phil says, running his fingers down Tony’s cheek. “Bad day, huh?”

Tony nods, rolling slowly onto his side. His chest hurts. Breathing hurts. Sometimes he just wishes he’d stop breathing and then maybe he could actually rest.

“Do you think you can move to the couch with me?”

Tony thinks about it. He wants to. He wants to be comfortable and he doesn’t want to move for a month.

He swallows, trying to wet his parched throat. 

“Bed,” he whispers.

Phil’s hand stills in his hair for a moment.

“Okay. We’ll take it slow.”

Tony is pretty sure he blacks out again when Phil gets him to his feet, one strong arm around his waist. Tony leans on him, face buried against Phil’s neck. 

“Walk with me, there you go,” Phil whispers, holding Tony upright. JARVIS opens the elevator without asking and takes them straight to the penthouse. The blinds are drawn and the lights dim as Phil leads Tony to the master bedroom. He helps Tony onto the bed and starts to pull his clothes off, leaving Tony in his briefs.

The skin around the arc reactor is red and inflamed and Phil knows it must be hurting particularly bad today. 

“Do you want me to put the lidocaine cream on you?” Phil asks. Tony nods, one arm flung over his eyes. “Can you take some ibuprofen for me?”

Tony won’t take anything stronger than Tylenol or Advil, not after being clean for over eight years.

“Yeah,” Tony says. Phil stands up and gets a bottle of Gatorade out of the minifridge. He cracks it open and grabs the bottle of ibuprofen and shakes four out of it. Tony sits up carefully, leaning back against the pillows piled on the bed.

“Here,” Phil says. Tony takes all four pills and throws them into his mouth, snatching the Gatorade and downing half the bottle. Phil goes to the bathroom and gets the lidocaine cream, sitting down next to him. He unscrews the jar and sticks a finger in.

Tony hisses, flinching under his touch.

“What set it off?” Phil asks.

“Took a hit during the last fight,” Tony says. “I think it jiggled the reactor casing.”

“The last battle was four days ago,” Phil says with a sigh, gently smearing the cream around the arc reactor. Tony lets out a moan as it starts to take effect, slowly numbing the chronic pain.

Tony keeps his eyes closed. “I know. I know. I should’ve said something earlier.”

“You normally don’t let it get this bad,” Phil says, wiping his hands clean and returning the cream to the bathroom.

“I thought it would go away,” Tony says, forcing his eyes open to watch as Phil sits back on the bed. “Stupid.”

Tony reaches out and Phil takes his hand, lacing their fingers together. “I’m so tired of hurting all the time, Agent. Even on good days it hurts.”

“I know,” Phil says, squeezing his hand. “I wish I could help you.”

“You do. Being here helps. Not pitying me helps.”

“I already told Nick that I was taking a sick day,” Phil says. He strips out of his suit. “Do you want sweatpants?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Cold again.”

Phil helps him into a pair sweats and pulls his own on. He climbs up on the bed and Tony leans against him.

“Can’t believe Nicky actually gave you a sick day,” Tony says, the sharp edge of pain finally starting to dull.

“I didn’t give him a choice,” Phil says, lips grazing Tony’s temple.

Tony smiles, his breathing finally starting to slow. Phil pulls the blankets up over them and Tony cuddles against him.

“If I stay with you all weekend, will you just _try_ to relax?” Phil asks, thumb tracing circles on Tony’s stomach.

“Only if you make that chicken dish you made last month.”

“Deal,” Phil says, smiling again.

“Thanks for coming for me, Phil,” Tony whispers, voice slurred with the beginning of sleep.

“Always, Tony.”

With the pain fading to a bearable level, Tony drifts off to sleep. Phil kisses Tony’s temple and closes his eyes, falling asleep with Tony in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are love


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